Thursday, September 27, 2012
Rendezvous in Black-Sympathizing with Johnny
I must say that Woolrich's Rendezvous in Black has been my favorite novel so far. I really felt for Johnny Marr and I must say, he had a right to want revenge. If I had been in his place, I would have wanted to avenge the love of my life's death as well. However, his actions had a sadistic edge to them, since for his later kills, Sharon Paige and Madeline Drew, he gets close to them and makes them fall in love with him, before he goes on to kill them. Woolrich did a great job getting the reader to sympathize with all of his characters, I felt bad for the women getting killed and I felt bad for Johnny. I liked the fact that whatever alias Johnny assumed, he always used his same initials 'JM'. The ending was heartbreaking for me to read, it showed just how deep Johnny's devotion to Dorothy ran, since he died calling out her name. It was also a pretty brutal way for Cameron to catch Johnny, by having a police woman dress up as an identical replica to Dorothy. It was harsh since it hurt Johnny both emotionally as well as psychologically in addition to his demise. I understand that Johnny did some horrible things, but he was so scarred by Dorothy's death and his loss of love. People do crazy things for love. Should the guy really blamed for all his actions?
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I can see where you sympathize with Johnny- but for me I really saw him as a cold character! I didn't have too much sympathy with him, even though there were obviously things wrong in his head- I sympathized most with Allen and Martine. I just thought their whole characterization was so detailed that I really felt for them. I thought they were two of the true, good characters in the book. Johnny on the other hand- not so much ha ha. It's interesting to hear your take on the book though, I wonder if it was the style of writing that made you sympathize with him? Or just the background information and circumstances you knew he went through.
ReplyDeleteI didn't sympathize with Johnny at all. Firstly, what happened to Dorothy was horrible, but that fact that Johnny simply walked away after seeing her body, without identifying her to the police or notifying her family, seemed to indicate that his grief and anger arose more from his own loss than out of any concern for his dead fiancee. Also, Johnny directed his "revenge" at a whole group of people, most of whom didn't have any responsibility for Dorothy's death. This, to me, puts Johnny Marr in a category with people like terrorists or the Colorado shooter, who direct there animosity at innocents. He's not even a vigilante.
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